Chapter 8: Habla Me

       Exhausted after a long, tiring day, MaeRi got out of the hotel and headed home. It’s been a while since she talked to her boss and that was somehow making everything harder and more awkward between them. In fact, she never showed up in front of him and he never gave direct orders to her.

Not far from the hotel she stopped to go and buy some groceries but when she came back to her car she noticed a figure in the dark alley, a man was leaning against the wall and was about to fall. She started walking towards the alley when she saw her boss sliding down the wall. He was bleeding, his face red with blood and it was definitely going to be purple and black soon.

“Mr. Kim?!” she said as she got closer and crouched next to him.

He opened his eyes weakly and then said: “HyuRi?!” he closed his eyes; “Run… he’ll hurt you, just run!” and then he fainted completely.

MaeRi tried to wake him but it was no use so she asked a kind gentleman to help her carry him to the car. Once in the car she drove home as fast as possible.

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Stirring in the warm bed, HyunJoong slowly opened his eyes to look around and found himself in a completely unfamiliar place. “Where am I?” he thought.

He was trying to sit up when the pain in his body reminded him of the fight and how badly he got injured, but he couldn’t remember what happened after. Suddenly the door of the apartment opened and MaeRi stepped in.

 

After taking care of HyunJoong’s wounds, she left to buy some pills and bandages for him as well as some ingredients for making soup. Opening the door to her apartment and stepping in, she saw her confused boss sitting on the bed looking around. Hearing the sound of the door he turned and looked at her. For some moments they just stared at each other before MaeRi smiled sheepishly; “It’s raining cats and dogs!” not waiting for an answer she kept on talking embarrassed; “Well… I’m going to make you a delicious soup, it will help you recover!” She was in the kitchen now; “You know my mother used to tell me that a cook’s job is as important as a doctor’s, since the cook should know what’s good for the patient to eat and what not to.” Stopping, she turned around and saw HyunJoong wandering around in the room. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be moving!”

 

Without even looking at the woman he continued to look for his shirt since he was shirtless and needed it if he wanted to leave. MaeRi grabbed his hand gently and dragged him to the bed, “You shouldn’t be walking around, you’ve lost blood and have very bad injuries all over your body which made you faint not long ago. You’re weak now…” HyunJoong pulled his hand out of hers and stopped, “I want to go, now!” he said dryly.

 

‘OH! That cold attitude!’ she thought a sad smile on her sad face. She’d already forgotten how it hurt when he talked to her like that! “But… you shoul-…” again she was cut off by her boss; “I don’t need you to tell me what to do, you’re just my chief in my hotel. I don’t even understand why you bothered bringing me here… anyhow give me my shirt… I want to leave… I don’t want to stay here…”

“Ok, fine!” MaeRi burst out for the first time; “If you hate me that much that you can’t stay here even for your own good it’s ok. But you can’t leave in this condition, you need to rest, seriously!” she turned away, took her purse and raincoat, “I’ll go, you stay!” she said with a loud, shaking voice and got out of the apartment slamming the door. She couldn’t stop the tears now, this was too much, and why did he hate her so much?!….

 

HyunJoong was standing in the middle of the room, when MaeRi left, her words echoing in his mind again and again. He never hated her, he just couldn’t be around her because she reminded him of HyuRi and his past… his pain and his guilt… but still he never wanted to let her go; not now, not like this. So he stormed out of the room, shirtless. It was hard to walk with all those bruises and the pain the wounds caused but he didn’t care, he had to stop her. He had to tell her… he doesn’t ate her… he never did…

 

Walking desperately and slowly in the downpour, MaeRi was crying silently and thinking about what just happened. Why was it always like this? Why should she be the one to find him? Why was he so cold and just wanted to leave? What’s wrong with him? What’s wrong with her?

Stepping out of the building HyunJoong saw her walking down the alley; he ran to her, took her by the arm and crashed their lips together.

 

Feeling the sweetness of those warm, soft lips against her own, MaeRi closed her eyes, unable to think of what had just happened and kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. She wanted him… she needed him…

Surprised that she was responding, HyunJoong put one hand around her slim waist, pulling her into his embrace and the other hand on the wall behind them, to lean on.

Enjoying the moment, MaeRi twined her hand into HyunJoong’s damp hair. Tilting his head, he deepened the kiss and pulled back when they both needed air, then he leaned his forehead against hers and tasted her breath on his lips.

 

After some moments when her heart was calm and her head could function properly, she pushed HyunJoong back gently and looked into his sad, dark, puppy eyes; What’d you do that for?” she asked.

Looking into those alluring eyes, he knew the reason and was sure of it. “Because I don’t want to stay away from you anymore!”

Deep in those always sad eyes, MaeRi could see honesty and truth. “Then don’t.” she whispered and kissed him again.

After a few more kisses she looked at him again, smiling; “But why were you always keeping away from me? Why were you so…” she was not sure to say it or not.

“Cruel?” HyunJoong said smiling.

“Yeah!” she laughed, cupping his jaw and looking at him in the eyes. He pecked her on the lips one more time and leaned back; “Are you sure you want to know? It’s a long story.” He said. She just nodded. “Ok! But first let’s get inside and change our clothes before we catch a cold.” He said with a shaking voice and body shivering dramatically from the cold.

Chuckling, MaeRi nodded; “That and we should take care of your wounds again, you stubborn boy!”

They both laughed and started walking towards the home smiling and holding hands after two long years of waiting and arguing.

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Back in the apartment they had dried themselves off and changed out of the soaking clothes. They were sitting on the couch, drinking the hot coffee in silence before HyunJoong started, staring down at the coffee in his hands;

“It was ten years ago; I fell in love with the most kind-hearted girl in my class. I was young and lively; I confessed to her and she accepted my love. I can never forget that shyness in her eyes as she said yes, she was so cute.” He was smiling as if she was right in front of him now. “We were together during high school and after that in university, the best days of my life. After graduating and when I followed in my father’s footsteps and started the business, I asked her to marry me, she agreed. I was over the moon!” he was about to cry, MaeRi took his hand gently and it’s back. HyunJoong looked at her hand then her face, smiling.

“We were happy together; living with the girl you love feels just right and I loved every single moment of my life with her. She was cute, kind, caring, nice and adorable, every man’s dream girl and I was so lucky to have her. Everything was fine. I was working hard to expand our business when one day I got a call from a stranger telling me to stop what I was doing or else I’ll regret it. I thought it was a prank call so I just ignored it. I was doing great in the business and got successful at last. I got black mailed twice after it but I just ignored them, who would have thought they’ll hurt my family over money business!” he clenched his fists.

“Then one night, when I got back home… it was a mess…”

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“HeyI… I’m back!” HyunJoong said, entering the house but froze when he saw the mess their house had turned into. Hyuri was nowhere to be found. He searched everywhere to find her but it was useless. “HyuRi!” he shouted in terror.

His ringtone scared him to death. Looking at the unknown number on the screen he said: “Hello?”

The man on the phone was laughing; “Hey Mr. Kim. Looking for someone?”

“Who is this?” HyunJoong asked, tense.

“Let’s say I’m the one who’s got what you’re looking for…. Or whom you’re looking for….” The guy said, grinning wickedly.

“You? Who the hell are you? What have you done to her?” HyunJoong burst out.

“Hold on… Hold on… she’s still alive! Want to meet her one last time?” the guy asked.

“If anything happens to her, I’ll kill you. I swear I will!” HyunJoong was going crazy.

The guy told him where they were waiting for him and then hung up. HyunJoong got into his car and drove off as fast as possible.

 

It was one of the cold, windy nights of February. The roads, the houses, trees, everything was covered by snow. The place where they were supposed to met was somewhere out of the city. He stopped immediately when he saw the cars and group of men near the road and ran out towards where he saw HyuRi standing in panic. Two strong arms stopped him though and no matter how hard he struggled and fought back to free himself he couldn’t and all he got was punches and kicks to his body. He could hear Hyuri’s muffled screams since was taped. The guy who seemed to be the leader was laughing and he motioned to the big guy to stop hitting HyunJoong then crouched in front of him, smirking; “You’re a pathetic kid. I wonder how you could beat me in business.”

“Let her go!” HyunJoong demanded through clenched teeth.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” The leader stated. “I gave you time to stop that business and I warned you… you just had to take the opportunity while you could… now… you’re going to pay for it!” he stood up, walked towards the guy who was holding HyuRi, took her by her hair and dragged her along with himself, not listening to her cries in pain.

“Don’t do that … let her go! She’s got nothing to do with this!” Hyunjoong was shouting in pain, seeing HyuRi like that was killing him.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” the guy said then slapped HyuRi, “Shut up!”

The woman was crying. HyunJoong was helpless; he couldn’t do anything to help his love. The guy forced HyuRi to kneel down in front of him and HyunJoong. “Watch Kim HyunJoong! You’ll have to suffer and learn that you shouldn’t be messing with The Red Dragons.” He said, pointing the gun at the trembling woman.

“NO… NO… please don’t hurt her… No… please!” HyunJoong was pleading now; the big guy was still holding him.

The leader smirked, “Say your goodbyes!”

HyuRi smiled weakly and mouthed “I love you” to HyunJoong who was looking at her with watery eyes.

The leader pulled the trigger and then;

A loud bang was echoing in the area.

HyuRi fell on her face into the snow covered ground.

“NOOOOOOOOOO…. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO….” HyunJoong was shouting like crazy, unable to believe what just happened before his eyes.

The group of men got in their cars and drove away leaving the helpless man alone with his dead wife lying on the ground surrounded by the pool of blood.

HyunJoong couldn’t move, his body numb due to being out in the cold for long, but he crawled on the ground and hugged his wife desperately in his cold arms. Shaking her in his arms he tried to wake her up: HyuRi! Wake up girl… wake up… tell me I’m dreaming….” Then he slapped himself hard in the face; “Wake up HyunJoong… this is a nightmare… you should wake up….” But it was all useless… she was gone and he knew it was reall.

 

His cries and shouts were the only sounds heard in that cold night; even Mother Nature knew the pain he was going through, so she kept silent that night.

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Meri was sobbing, but HyunJoong was just staring at his feet in silence. “After that I found out that she was pregnant too and that it was her third month. That guy didn’t just kill my wife; he killed my child and me, too. I should take revenge even if it takes years to do, I will kill him MaeRi and until that day I will never give up.” HyunJoong said firmly.

MaeRi looked into his sad eyes through her glassy ones, and then cupped his face with both hands then leaned and kissed him on the cheek, “I’m sorry, Hyu-… Sir!” she blushed. HyunJoong smiled at the sudden change of words; “Hyun is OK!” he kissed her forehead softly then continued, “You are just so similar to her, MaeRi; your eyes, your smile, the way you move… And I was afraid I couldn’t take care of you, too. So I just stayed away… I can’t lose you MaeRi. I want to be with you! Forever.” he said, holding her in his arms.

“Because I remind you of her?!” She murmured against his neck.

He looked into her eyes and gave her a quick peck on the lips; “No! Because it’s you, Wi MaeRi, my special chief and number one lady!” he said smiling.

MaeRi felt good, calm and warm. She could be with him now; even though he never said those three words.

 

 

To be continued...